Day 495

When my son was a goalie playing soccer we got him lessons with an all star goalie. The guy was all-Ireland, whatever that means, but what he told the young goalies has always stuck with me.
“Your job as goalie is always to be between the ball and the goal.”
He gave two specific examples that I remember to this day:
“If the ball is on the far end of the field, your job is to stay between the ball and the goal.”
He illustrated that point by saying things like, “if the ball is to the left side you should be positioned between the ball and the goal left side.” And, “You should not be hanging off to one side of the goal – taking a break.”
His other point was this situation, “Let’s say two opposing players have a fast break and are coming down the field at you. One has the ball and is getting ready to pass the ball to the other. What do you do? Do you jump to be ready for the other player to receive the ball? Do you?
“No, your job is to be between the ball and the goal. You stay on the ball, not the man. You don’t move to the other man until he has the ball.”

What does this have to do with the three men I mentioned? Plenty. All have commented about the 2016 election and the Russian interference:
Comey said he knew it was going on. He didn’t know how much, but he didn’t want to appear to be influencing the election.
Clapper said he knew it was going on and reported it to the President.
President Obama knew it was going on but it is reported, “Didn’t want to put his thumb on the scale.”

All three men kept quiet. They all had their reasons. But they missed the point.

By their silence they greatly influenced the outcome of the election.

There was a very public investigation of Hillary and her emails. This was a nothing burger, on the face of it, but it was fanned by the right wing media and the Russian bots. Meanwhile a much more serious investigation into Russian interference was going on and the public was not told. The silence of these men changed the outcome of the election.

They jumped to the man who was going to get the ball. He never got the ball. Rather the first player kicked the ball into the net.